No. 2 Harper Charter football fumbled the opening kickoff of the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 1A 6-man title against No. 9 Crow.
That was the only thing that went wrong for the Hornets on Saturday at Redmond High School.
Harper responded with a stop and scored 81 unanswered points to take down the Cougars 81-0 and win the Hornets’ first-ever state football title.
In total, the Hornets set 21 different 6-man title game records to cap the 12-0 campaign and cement themselves as one of the best 6-man seasons the state has ever seen, which was played from 1947-1959 and then restarted in 2022 under the OSAA.
“We had a defensive plan going in there, obviously that (Cayden) Hernandez is a great athlete,” Harper Charter head coach David Marker said. “We had such a great gameplan to shut him down. We knew he was a huge part of their offense.”
As for the whole season, Harper scored 736 points, easily breaking the 6-man record of 574 scored by Westport in 1947, and only gave up 59 points on defense. The shutout was also the sixth of the season for the Hornets, tying the 6-man record for the most in a season with Prairie City from last season, a team the Hornets beat 65-22 in the state semifinals.
Following that win, the Hornets went to the program’s first-ever title game, but fell to Powers 32-13.
With nearly the entire team back though, Harper knew that 2025 was the year they could be untouchable.
“When we walked off the field last year, they were planning this year,” Marker said. “They were in the weight room and they were running and ready to get that taste out of our mouth because that hurt last year.
“I think after you’ve lost a championship game and you have everybody back, the expectations were that all year, nothing less than a state title will do.”
For Harper, located about 25 miles west of Vale in Malheur County, the football title is also the first athletics title in school history.
“I think they set a new bar for the rest of the school and the rest of the kids coming up,” Marker said. “The work ethic that they put in and how you watched them grow up. I think these other kids watched these guys play … They just now have that expectation of, ‘Hey you gotta get out there and perform.’”
Crow couldn’t have asked for a better start, recovering a fumble on the opening kickoff to deny the Hornets an opening possession. The Cougars made the state title game as the No. 9 seed, winning on the road over No. 1 Triangle Lake in the second round before taking out No. 4 Elkton on the last play of the game in the semifinals. It was only the second time the Cougars had played for a title, the other time coming in 1993.
However, that stingy Harper defense went right to work to force a turnover on downs to make sure the turnover didn’t hurt.
Three plays later, junior Madoxx Martinez, who fumbled the ball on the kickoff, hit senior Ace Christensen for a 63-yard TD pass and catch. The Hornets converted the one-point try and went ahead 7-0 despite the bad start.
On the Cougars next drive, a bad snap led to a broken play and senior Isaac Walker came up with a sideline interception of Crow’s Cayden Hernandez.
Martinez and senior Cope Christensen each had runs of over 20 yards on two of the next three plays for Harper, and ended the drive on the fourth play with a 10-yard TD run from Martinez. Junior Richard Joyce passed to senior Colt Bentz for the one-pointer to go up 14-0 a little less than seven minutes into the game.
Crow went three-and-out, and two plays later the Hornets were in the end zone again on a 66-yard Martinez to Joyce TD pass and catch. The pass was short and Joyce made a cut back at midfield to escape two Crow potential tacklers and was gone. Martinez ran in the point after to push the Harper lead to 21-0 with three minutes still left in the first quarter.
The route was on a few plays later when Crow had another three-and-out and punted it to its own 36-yard line.
On the first play, Martinez took an inside handoff and ran to the outside toward the near sideline and was gone for the 36-yard TD. Martinez didn’t connect on the one-pointer though, making it 27-0 at the end of the first quarter.
“What makes (Martinez) so dangerous is at any second he can definitely break a play and run it in from anywhere on the field,” Marker said. “You come up to tackle Madoxx and he’ll just dump it to the open receiver. He’s got such a great arm, he’s so athletic, sees the field so well that it’s just fun to watch him play.”
Harper crossed midfield before the end of the first though, and scored on the second play of the second frame on a Joyce to Walker TD pass from 25 yards out. Martinez threw to Walker for the one-pointer to go up 34-0.
Hernandez fumbled on Crow’s next play and it was recovered by Cope Christensen. Two plays later, Cope Christensen was rewarded with a 21-yard TD run. Martinez hit Joyce for the point-after to go up 41-0.
Again, it was a Crow three-and-out followed by a one-play drive from Harper when Martinez faked an end-around handoff to Walker and sprinted down the near sideline for an untouched 61-yard TD run, the longest run play in 6-man title game history. Cope Christensen ran in the point-after to go up 48-0 with 7:07 left in the first half.
Crow was able to pick up a first down on a Harper penalty and moved the ball to the Hornets 34-yard line, but Hernandez was stopped there on fourth down short of the line to gain.
Harper came back with a 41-yard gain on a pass from Joyce to Martinez, followed by a 25-yard rushing TD from Martinez. Cope Christensen rushed for the extra point, pushing the lead to 55-0.
“It’s a once in a lifetime class coming through Harper,” Marker said of all the senior playmakers. “That group has been with us for four years now. We started those kids when they were freshmen because that’s what we had. They’ve really improved, gotten older and tougher. Great kids, never have to ask them to try harder.”
And finally, after another Crow three-and-out, Cope Christensen took the ensuing punt to the house for a 50-yard TD, the longest punt return in 6-man title game history. Martinez passed to Ace Christensen for the point-after to go up 62-0 at halftime.
Harper only ran one play in the third quarter with the running clock in effect, and it was a 71-yard TD pass from Martinez to Cope Christensen, the longest pass play in 6-man title game history. A rush from senior Tristin Casiano was stopped on the point after to make it 68-0 Hornets.
The Hornets needed a few more plays in the fourth, but did score again on a 1-yard rushing TD from junior Chasesen Ingram, followed by a Casiano point-after to go up 75-0.
Harper got one final stop and needed one play once again, this one a 50-yard TD run from Cope Christensen to reach the 81-0 final score after a failed point-after.
Martinez finished with 160 rushing yards on five attempts with four rushing TDs. Both of those are 6-man state title game records. He also went 4-for-6 passing for 207 yards and three TDs, the latter of which ties a 6-man title game record. And those seven total touchdowns is a new 6-man title game record.
Cope Christensen also ran for 153 yards on eight carries with two TDs. The 153 yards also broke the previous title-game record of 148 by Carter Boise from Spray/Mitchell/Wheeler in 2022, but of course Martinez went for seven more to best his teammate.
The Hornets gave up only nine yards of offense to the Cougars and scored 12 total TDs. They also set the team rushing record in a 6-man title game with 350 yards on the ground.
The 81 points scored is a new 6-man title game record, breaking Sisters’ 73 points scored in the 1957 title game against Alsea, a 73-27 win for the Outlaws. The 81-point win is also the largest margin of victory in Oregon high school championship game history, beating out a 74-2 win for Arlington over Prospect in the 1981 8-man state title game.
The Hornets’ 35 points in the second quarter is the most in a single frame in 6-man title game history.
Needless to say, it was a fitting end to one of the best 6-man seasons the state might ever see.
“Our younger class this year, seventh and eighth grade, was really good and they went undefeated,” Marker said. “It just set the tone and changed the atmosphere. Changed the whole culture.”
austinw@osaa.org
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